Help: Can you ID this Disease? (Photo)

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willow22

AC Members
Sep 18, 2006
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Indiana, USA
Hi, I'm new here.

I just added this fish to my aquarium. Got it from a reputable small dealer (not a large chain store). Two days later I see what appears to be the equivalent of a human callous on its side. Pet store was closed last night when I noticed this so couldn't get any meds.

Today it's spreading fast. The whitest area near the tail is now even more white and has gotten rougher. This morning only the tiny white dot was new to its lower belly. Now later this morning the 'callous' area is spreading forward on the body toward the gills and to the top of the tail. (Other side of the fish is fine).

Can you help me ID this asap so I can get proper meds? Here is a photo.
GramiDisease.jpg


Am grateful for any help!!

~willow22
 
I'm not an expert...not even close, but we had 3 spots on our silver scat that looked like this and it was Fungus. We just medicated the tank for about a week or so and the spots went away, but he did have "scars" there :( Hopefully someone can help you out quickly though...the fungus on our scat didn't spread real quickly.
 
Thanks hope.

I have an update (this is changing rapidly, and pet stores don't open for another hour or so). Now there's white mucous floating at the center of the whitest part. Sort of like a blister in the center of the white, only mucous-like. (Gross!)
 
Looks fungul to me. I would treat the whole tank with a fungus eliminating medication there are many available. Keep an eye on your other fish, hopefully it isn't too far gone to save the little guy...:(
Good luck, keep us updated.
 
Is this is only fish in the tank? If you have other fish I would quartine the new fish if you can. It's easier to treat 1 fish rather than a whole tank.
 
The affected fish has already been in that tank with the others for a couple of days though right? It is certainly possible that the others have been infected so I think treating the whole tank is probably a good prophilatic measure at this point. Qting fish before putting them in the community tank is really the safest way to go so if there is a problem with the new guy he can be treated in an isolated environment. Unfortunately, however we do not all have an additional tank available for this purpose. Again, I would treat the whole tank to hopefully cure the Gourami and pevent it from spreading to the rest of your fish.
 
I don't think Fungus is highly contagious like Ick is. If you don't have a QT right now, you can always just run to your local PetSmart/WalMart/whatever and grab a 10g "starter kit". That will be cheap and sufficient, especially since you will be keeping ammonia down through pretty much once or twice a day water changes, as opposed to cycling.

The drawback to treating your entire main tank is that the meds run a pretty good chance of killing off your biofilter, which means you are going to have to fishy cycle the main tank, which could take weeks of daily water tests and large water changes.

Alternatively, I suppose you could put your biofilter in a smaller tank and dose daily with ammonia to keep it going, but there would still be no way around those daily changes in the main tank.

If you do decide to treat the main tank, remember to take any carbon in your filter out prior to treatment. When the treatment is over, put some carbon in (even if you don't use it now) in order to remove the med from the tank.

SirWired
 
Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it. I'm taking the fish (there's two of them) back to the store today. I can't find my receipt, but still have the bag they came in, and the guy remembered me from the other day.

Fish #2 (same type) shows no sign of disease but late this a.m. I found him floating at the bottom of the tank. I pulled both of them out and put them in a glass bowl. Store will take them back (there was a 3rd one at the store, but it didn't look good, and DUH, that should have been a huge red flag to me.)

Problem is, they want a water sample. I just did a complete change yesterday as tank was smelling "fishy". Last month, PH, Ammonia were high because I was getting the tank established. Things were getting to normal limits. Then after I did that water change yesterday (50%), I tested this morning, and PH and Ammonia were at the high end of the card. How can that be, with fresh water? (I also add a bit of salt to the tank, and had put in Aqua Zyme to give the biofilter a jump start.)

Anyway, I think this fish was sick when I bought it. I just hope they don't try to pin my water test readings on the illness/death. (Especially when I got them Friday late afternoon, changed water Sat morning, and by Sat eve the "callous" showed up.)

I hate to lose fish, hate to see the little buggers die :(
 
High ammonia readings? "Fishy" smell? Hmm, I think we need more information about your tank-- while it certainly does sound like the gouramies weren't in the best shape to begin with, I suspect your water conditions may very well have exacerbated their weak dispositions and contributed to the badness that went down.

Fungal infections like the one you saw develop on your gourami are endemic to tanks that have less-than-stellar water quality, usually due to improper or insufficient tank maintenance. High ammonia readings and strange smells are also typically indicative of the same conditions. Therefore, I am led to believe that there's likely something weird going on with your water column that needs to be addressed pronto-- while the fungus may not be contagious, as such, if the cause is environmental, you can expect to see the same problem arise repeatedly if the condtions of the tank do not change for the better. In other words, we should try and treat the disease, and not just placate the symptoms.

So let's try and figure it out:

How old is your tank, as in, when did you set it up? How big is the tank? How many fish are living in it, and what kinds of fish are they? Also, what are the actual numerical values for your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? What kind of test kit are you using to get those values? How often do you conduct your water changes, and how big are they usually?
 
Well, the store was really good about this. They took both fish back, gave me a credit, no questions. (Owner remarked others in that same batch had died as well.) They thought is was some type of fungus too. One guy said it looked like fin/tail rot, only more on the body. I don't know, this is all pretty new to me. I'm definately more of a pond person, easy compared to aquarium ;) They suggested not adding treatment to my tank, but watch my fish closely, if any signs, get treatment asap. So far all my existing fish seem fine, no symptoms.

Thank you for the interest, mandimoron ;)

  • How old is your tank, as in, when did you set it up? 3 weeks ago. I know, too soon to be getting new fish, but I couldn't resist. I'll wait now. Long story. I've had a pond for years. I always overwintered my plecos in my nieces' aquarium. They decided they didn't want it anymore (or their parents decided for them) so I took it, as my plecos are huge (12" +) and keep the pond sparking in warm months. So last May I fall asleep on the couch, wake up at 4 am to the sound of running water, wonder what the heck is DH doing? Then I realize it's the stupid tank leaking. All over the room (brand new flooring, too). Long story short: it was warm enough we put fish in the pond with my Koi/Goldfish. They did fine all summer. With colder temps, I had to get a new tank set up.
  • How big is the tank? 46 gal bow. Fluvalve 205 filter. No undergravel filter, I don't like those, that came with last take and it was smelly PIA. Bubbler. New heater set at 72.
  • How many fish are living in it, and what kinds of fish are they? Two 12" plecos, two 3" clown loach, three 3" pale blue gouramis, one 2" transparent fish (forget the name, he was my nieces') and one 4" bala shark. (Shark's new. I couldn't resist. And he seems to have grown in just a few days time!) All others listed spent May-Aug in the pond.
  • Also, what are the actual numerical values for your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? These are approximate. At setup: pH = 7.2; Ammonia = 4.0 -5.0ppm; Nitrite = .25 ppm; Nitrate= 20-40 ppm. When I set up tank, it was recommended I keep at least 50% pond water, add 50% fresh. So I did. (Could have been the pond water contributing to fishy smell.) I added 25% of the recommended amount of aquarium salt. I added Aqua Zyme to kick in biofilter. Proper amount of AquaSafe for tap water.
  • What kind of test kit are you using to get those values? Freshwater Master Test Kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.
  • How often do you conduct your water changes, and how big are they usually? First few weeks, gradual, about 10-20% change. Clean gravel regularly (at least weekly). Sat morning, due to lingering fishy smell, cleaned tank (gravel, ornaments) thoroughly and did 50% change since fish are doing well and pond water has slowly been replaced with tap. (Fish seemed please afterward, much more active, darting and swimming.) Another factor leading to fishy smell might be picky eaters. I went through 3 foods that they showed no interest in. Little buggers just spit it back out most of the time. This weekend I switched some, and everyone seems happy. Omega One Cichlid Flakes (they all like that). Wardley Shrimp Pellets for shark, Hikari Algae Wafers (large) for plecos.
  • My most recent test readings (Sun 10/1, one day after 50% water change: pH=7.2; Ammonia = 8.0 (that one has me stumped); Nitrite = 5.0 (that shot up too, so I added a very small amount of additional AquaZyme (I go light on this stuff, I'm more used to pond amounts). Didn't check Nitrate. Per aquarium store owner, when that's high, he said water is at end of cycle. He didn't recocmmend Nitra Zorb, said just give AquaZyme time to kick in and work
 
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